Corpus Christi International Airport

Primary Small Hub

Corpus Christi International Airport is classified as a Commercial Service, Primary, Small Hub Airport. For Corpus Christi International to have a classification as a Commercial Service Primary Airport it must be a public airport with scheduled passenger service and must have an enplaned passenger count of at least 10,000 annually. The designation as a Small Hub Airport means that Corpus Christi International enplanes at least .05 percent, but no more than .25 percent of the total annual U.S. passenger enplanements. No airlines currently use Corpus Christi as a connecting hub airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Corpus Christi International Airport covers an area of 2,457 acres (994 ha) at an elevation of 44 feet (13 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 13/31 is 7,508 by 150 feet (2,288 x 46 m) and 18/36 is 6,080 by 150 feet (1,853 x 46 m).

For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2013, the airport had 70,456 aircraft operations, an average of 254 per day: 32% military, 18% general aviation, 15% air taxi and 3% scheduled commercial, At that time there were 68 aircraft based at this airport: 37% single-engine, 25% multi-engine, 6% jet, 1% helicopter.

Airlines and destinations

Corpus Christi International Airport has a total of six gates, two of which (Gates 4 and 6) have direct access to the U.S. Customs office. The airport has five jetways with a sixth gate accessible via stairs.

Top destinations

According to American Airlines January 2017 flight schedules, all American Eagle flights between the airport and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) are currently operated with Embraer ERJ-154 regional jets flown by Envoy Air, Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets flown by Mesa Airlines or with mainline service on a daily MD-80 .

All Southwest Airlines flights serving Corpus Christi are operated with Boeing 737 jetliners. The Southwest 737 fleet currently includes Boeing 737-300, 737-700 and 737-800 models. Southwest is the only airline to serve Corpus Christi with mainline jet aircraft at the present time. But this will change January 8th, 2017 when American Airlines resumes mainline service.

According to the United Airlines May 2, 2016 flight status listings, all United Express flights between the airport and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) are currently operated either with Embraer ERJ-175 regional jets flown by Mesa Airlines or with Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets flown by ExpressJet Airlines.

Historical airline service

Braniff International Airways, Eastern Air Lines and Trans-Texas Airways all served Corpus Christi for many years. In 1935, Braniff was operating daily Lockheed Model 10 Electra twin prop aircraft on a routing of Brownsville - Corpus Christi - San Antonio - Austin - Waco - Fort Worth - Dallas Love Field. By 1940, Braniff was operating a flight which the airline called "The Starlight Express" on a routing of Brownsville - Corpus Christi - San Antonio - Austin - Fort Worth - Dallas Love Field - Oklahoma City - Ponca City, OK - Wichita - Kansas City - Chicago flown with a Douglas DC-3. Eastern began service to Corpus Christi in 1939. In 1941, Eastern was operating a flight the airline called the "Mexico Silver Sleeper" with a routing of New York City - Washington, D.C., - Atlanta - New Orleans - Houston Hobby Airport - Corpus Christi - Brownsville with connections to the Pan American World Airways service between Brownsville and Mexico City at the time. By 1958, Eastern was operating daily Convair 340 "Silver Falcon" service with a routing of Brownsville - Corpus Christi - Houston Hobby - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Lake Charles - Lafayette - Baton Rouge - New Orleans - Mobile - Pensacola - Montgomery - Birmingham - Atlanta. In 1952, Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) was flying daily Douglas DC-3 "Starliner" service with an intrastate routing of Brownsville - Harlingen - McAllen - Alice - Corpus Christi - Beeville - Victoria - Houston. By 1963, Trans-Texas Airways was operating most of its flights into the airport with Convair 240 prop aircraft with direct service to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Harlingen, McAllen and Victoria and was also operating 21-seat Douglas DC-3 service on an intrastate routing of Corpus Christi - San Antonio - San Angelo - Midland/Odessa - Pecos - El Paso. By 1969, TTa had changed its name to Texas International Airlines which in turn continued to serve Corpus Christi.

The jet age arrived in Corpus Christi during the mid 1960s. In 1965, Eastern was operating two Boeing 727-100 jet departures a day nonstop to Houston Hobby Airport with continuing no change of plane service to Washington Dulles Airport, New York Newark Airport and Boston. At this same time, Eastern was operating regional service with a Convair 440 propliner on a routing of Brownsville - Corpus Christi - Houston Hobby Airport - Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX - Lake Charles, LA - Lafayette, LA - Baton Rouge - New Orleans. By 1966, Braniff International was flying British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets into Corpus Christi with nonstop service to Houston Hobby Airport, San Antonio and Brownsville with direct one stop service to Austin and Dallas Love Field as well as direct no change of plane jet service being operated via multistop routings to and/or from Amarillo, Chicago O'Hare Airport, Fort Worth (via Greater Southwest International Airport), Kansas City, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, New York Newark Airport, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Washington D.C. National Airport (now Reagan Airport) and Wichita. At this same time, Braniff was operating Lockheed L-188 Electra propjet service on a routing of Corpus Christi - Houston Hobby Airport - Dallas Love Field - Oklahoma City - Wichita - Kansas City - Chicago O'Hare Airport and was also serving the airport with Convair 440 propliners as well. Also in 1966, Trans-Texas Airways introduced nonstop Douglas DC-9-10 jet service to Houston Hobby Airport in addition to flights operated with Convair 600 turboprops nonstop to Houston, San Antonio and Harlingen, and direct to Dallas Love Field, Austin and McAllen. By 1968, TTa was flying the DC-9 nonstop to Harlingen as well as to Houston with direct, no change of plane jet service being operated on a one stop basis to Dallas Love Field with continuing multistop DC-9 service being flown to Little Rock, Memphis, Midland/Odessa, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, NM and Roswell, NM. In 1967, the airport had international service to Mexico operated by Mexicana de Aviacion flying Douglas DC-6 propliners nonstop to Monterrey three days a week with these flights continuing on to Mexico City on a direct one stop basis.

Trans-Texas Airways then changed its name to Texas International Airlines which in 1974 was operating direct, no change of plane DC-9 jet service between Corpus Christi and Mexico City on a daily basis via an intermediate stop in McAllen and was also flying direct, no change of plane DC-9 jet service to Denver and on to Salt Lake City via intermediate stops at Houston Intercontinental Airport and San Antonio. Also in 1974, there were three airlines operating nonstop jet service between the airport and Houston Intercontinental (IAH): Braniff flying Boeing 727-100s and 727-200s, Eastern operating a Boeing 727-200 (with direct, no change of plane service being flown between Corpus Christi and Atlanta via IAH) and Texas International flying Douglas DC-9-10s. At this same time, Braniff was also operating nonstop Boeing 727-100 and 727-200 service between the airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in 1976 Eastern was operating daily Boeing 727-200 service from Corpus Christi nonstop to New Orleans with direct, no change of plane service to Atlanta, Hartford and Providence, RI. Eastern was also flying daily 727-200 service to Houston with this flight continuing on to Atlanta as well. At this same time, Braniff was operating three direct Boeing 727 flights a day to Chicago O'Hare Airport and was also flying no change of plane Boeing 727 service to New York JFK Airport, New York Newark Airport and Washington D.C. Dulles Airport with all of these flights operating via Dallas/Fort Worth. Also in 1976, Texas International was operating daily direct DC-9 jet service to Los Angeles (LAX) via intermediate stops in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Midland/Odessa, Roswell, NM, and Albuquerque.

Southwest Airlines began serving Corpus Christi on March 1, 1977 as an intrastate air carrier and by 1979 was operating six flights a day with Boeing 737-200 jetliners nonstop to Houston Hobby as well as flying nonstop service to Dallas Love Field on Saturdays and Sundays. Also in 1979, Braniff had ceased flying nonstop service to Houston Intercontinental (IAH) but was continuing to operate four nonstops a day to Dallas/Fort Worth with Boeing 727s while Eastern and Texas International were continuing to operate service to IAH with Eastern flying two daily nonstops with Boeing 727-200s and Texas International operating three nonstops a day with Douglas DC-9-10s. By 1981, Eastern had begun flying daily nonstop service to Atlanta with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners. In 1982, Braniff International ceased all operations and went out of business while Texas International was merged into Continental Airlines. American Airlines then replaced Braniff's nonstop service to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and in 1983 was operating Boeing 727-100 and 727-200 jetliners on the DFW route with three daily nonstops and was also operating daily nonstop 727-200 service to Austin with this flight continuing on to Dallas/Fort Worth. Also at this same time, Continental was operating four daily nonstops to Houston Intercontinental (IAH) with Boeing 727-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners while Pan Am Express operated by Emerald Air was flying three nonstops a day to IAH with Douglas DC-9-10 jets via a code sharing agreement with Pan Am. By 1984, Austin-based Emerald Air was operating as an independent air carrier with up to ten departures a day flown with DC-9 jets and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 turboprops nonstop to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH) and McAllen (MFE) as well as direct to Austin and San Antonio.

During the mid 1980s, two major airlines began new service into Corpus Christi: Pan Am and United Airlines. In 1985, Pan Am was flying daily nonstop Boeing 727-200 service to Dallas/Fort Worth with direct one stop service to New York JFK Airport with this flight being timed to connect to Pan Am's international nonstop service from JFK to London as well as to other Pan Am destinations in Europe, the Mideast, Africa and Asia. Also in 1985, United was operating two daily flights direct to Denver with Boeing 727-100 and 727-200 jetliners with both services making an en route intermediate stop in Austin. However, according to the Official Airline Guide, both airlines subsequently ceased all service into Corpus Christi although United would return to the airport years later following its merger with Continental in 2010. In 1989, American Airlines was operating five daily nonstops to Dallas/Fort Worth with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners, Continental and Continental Express were flying a combined total of six nonstops a day to Houston Intercontinental (Continental with Boeing 727-100, 727-200 and Douglas DC-9-10 jets, and Continental Express, operated by Britt Airways at this time, with ATR 42 turboprops) while Southwest was operating eight nonstops a day to Houston Hobby with Boeing 737-200 and 737-300 jetliners. Eastern Air Lines no longer served Corpus Christi by this time with this major air carrier subsequently ceasing all operations and going out of business in 1991.

By the early 1990s, another major air carrier had begun new service to Corpus Christi: Delta Air Lines which was operating a hub at the time located at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in competition with the American Airlines hub at DFW. In 1991, Delta was flying three nonstops a day to Dallas/Fort Worth with Boeing 737-200 jetliners while American and American Eagle were operating a combined total of seven nonstops a day to DFW, American with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets and American Eagle with Saab 340 turboprops. By 1994, Delta had turned all of its Corpus Christi-Dallas/Fort Worth service over to Atlantic Southeast Airlines which was operating code sharing flights as the Delta Connection with ATR 72 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia propjets while American and American Eagle were continuing to fly the DFW route as well, American with Fokker 100 jets and American Eagle with ATR 72 propjets. By 1999, Delta no longer served Corpus Christi with mainline jet flights although Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines was operating nonstop flights to Atlanta with Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets. Also in 1999, American had ceased flying mainline jet aircraft on the Dallas/Fort Worth route with American Eagle operating all flights to DFW with ATR 72 propjets at this time with eight nonstop flights a day. At this same time, Continental was only operating one mainline jet flight a day to Houston Intercontinental (IAH) with Continental Express flying nine departures a day to IAH operated with Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets and ATR 42 turboprops. In 2010, Continental merged with United Airlines and the Continental Express service into Corpus Christi then began to be operated at that time as United Express.

According to various editions of the Official Airline Guide, several independent commuter airlines also served Corpus Christi from the 1970s through the 1990s. These small air carriers and their respective prop and turboprop aircraft types that were operated into the airport are as follows:

Incidents at Corpus Christi Airport

On April 2, 2012, United Airlines flight 4128 operated by United Express made an emergency landing at Corpus Christi after it suffered damage to its front landing gear and experienced a flat tire. The flight originated in Harlingen, Texas and was en route to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston with 37 passengers on board. No injuries were reported. The aircraft was an Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet flown by ExpressJet.